The invention relates to the use of roller fixing in printing. In particular, the invention relates to the use of heated rollers.
Roller fusing is used for both ink jet and toner images. For example, roller fusing is often used to fix electrophotograpic or ionographic toner images onto a receiver. Both heat and pressure are required. Roller fusing has also been used with ink jet images and is applicable to powder coatings. For all printing methods, increased heat flow from the fuser can be used to increase process speeds, and improved heat flow may be necessary for printing on thermally conductive substrates. Temperature uniformity where the fuser roller contacts the receiver is preferred and is difficult to obtain with conventional hollow, air filled fuser rollers heated internally by quartz lamps or other electrical resistance heaters.
For label printing, hot foil embossing is done with a heated cylinder that has a closed hot oil circulation system. Foil is embossed onto the web under the influence of heat and pressure. Advantages include quick heating of the cylinder and small temperature fluctuations.
During the manufacturing process for paper, rollers heated by steam are used to dry the paper.